CorelDRAW Master - Anand Dixit

Biography

How long have you been in this profession?
I started my career in Advertising industry immediately after I completed college in 1983. I joined an advertising agency as a Media Executive and quit my job as Media Incharge in 1991.

Why did you choose this profession?
Well, it was not decided by me to come in this profession. I came into advertising just because I got my first job in an advertising agency. My interest was then developed in the industry.

How did you get started?
I used to see the creative artists working with great visuals, which I liked very much. I was always fascinated with their thought processes and the designs they created. We used to have brand positioning meetings for our clients' products. Though I was not involved in the creatives, I used to be there to understand the target audience to plan the media for the advertising campaigns. In 1991, I decided to quit my job to start my own business. However, I came into designing only after my wife, a qualified Commercial Artist, joined my business. That was in 1992 to 1993. Since then, both of us have been running a design studio, mostly in print media.

What are your most important accomplishments?
Together, my wife and I have created over 5000 pieces of art in the past 20 years, which averages to almost one piece of work per work day. These include most of the categories in print media, such as brochures, leaflets, corporate identity, designs for outdoor media, packaging designs, point of purchase materials, exhibition displays etc. About seven or eight years back, I got an assignment for creating a book with about 1200 pages. It was a medical reference book for the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune. Considering the time we had to create the book, I decided to use CorelDRAW for the project. I was much more comfortable using the application than any other. I was able to complete the design of the book in time and everything on the production front worked well too. It was a great day for me when I finished that job.

Describe a special moment in your career.
I can think of three special moments in my career. And all are connected to CorelDRAW. After I started a design studio, I got a designing assignment from my previous employer. Computers and the use of graphic applications was not so popular in those days. When I presented the digital design to my employer, he was amazed and surprised at the job I'd done for him using the computer and CorelDRAW. His appreciation was very special for me. After a few years, I got my first student to teach CorelDRAW from his advertising agency. It was August 2007 when I received a letter informing me about my selection for the World Wide Beta Testing Forum from the Corel Corporation. This was another special moment for me. And today I am being interviewed as a “Corel Master” - another special moment.

History with CorelDRAW

How long have you used CorelDRAW?
I started using CorelDRAW Version 2. However, Version 3 was the first time I used the software to create commercial designs.

How did you come across CorelDRAW?
I saw a few people using CorelDRAW to create designs. I was interested in understanding more about the application.

Do you have any interesting/funny/noteworthy stories?
These days there is a segmentation in design styles. In the early days when I first started my business, I used to get inquiries about jobs such as creating simple letters in CorelDRAW. I did these types of jobs for free but had to start charging for them as I started getting of the same type. I believe that computer novices and pros are easier to deal with. The intermediates are most difficult. I had one client who was excited with what I did with my computer and CorelDRAW. He wanted me to rotate a 2D scanned picture in a 3D way. I mean he wanted the picture to turn around for his sales literature. And his innocent question was that if you could create such amazing things, why can't you do that for me?

What are your top three favorite CorelDRAW features?
The Print Merge in CorelDRAW was the number one feature for me. I enjoyed a monopoly in this area as no other CorelDRAW user in my region could use this feature. I have used it to integrate more than 70 fields in a single job. Those were the Management students' result sheets with variable data of their names, semester wise subjects, marks obtained by the students and more. The imposition tool is another tool which I find very useful and is my favorite. I don't know why this tool isn't used as much by other CorelDRAW users.

As an artist, my wife loves the Mesh fill tool and has created amazing illustrations using it. I know it's a difficult tool for non-artists who don't understand the way it works. Not being an artist myself, I am unable to create with this tool, but still I love it.

What are the CorelDRAW features that allow you to distinguish your designs/art?
A perfect artist who has technical knowledge of printing, understanding of computer logic and experience with the CorelDRAW application can do wonders. Unfortunately, a person with all of these qualities is rare. CorelDRAW has all the capabilities to fulfill all our design and reproduction needs. It's very difficult to name only a few features from CorelDRAW that help distinguish our designs.

How do you feel about CorelDRAW?
I am emotionally attached with CorelDRAW and I have been with it for almost 20 years. The first license I purchased was version 3. Since then, I've never looked back. It has made my career and helped me earn a living so I have never had to look for an alternative. CorelDRAW rocks.